California fires continue to burn and the death toll continues to rise. Special Counsel Jack Smith announces he is stepping down from the Department of Justice. California fires are showing no signs of slowing down and the Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up today.
00:00:00.000Hello everybody, I'm John Fawcett with this Great America Show midday update for Sunday, January 12th.
00:00:05.960It's sad to say, folks, but these California wildfires are showing no signs of relenting.
00:00:11.060California is now using nearly a thousand inmates, incarcerated folks, to battle the Los Angeles fire.
00:00:18.320The practice of using inmates for dangerous jobs and very little pay has long been an extremely controversial issue.
00:00:24.540Using inmates to battle fires has been banned in Colorado, Vermont, Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon, and Tennessee, still used by the state of California.
00:00:34.740Here's what we know currently about the wildfires that are still burning and ones that are maybe expected to come.
00:00:40.400The Santa Ana winds are expected to strengthen today after a brief reprieve yesterday with gusts of 30 to 50 miles an hour in coastal areas
00:00:46.780and up to 70 miles an hour in the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
00:00:51.200Folks, the wind is a massive factor of what is driving these wildfires, as an ember can blow from point A to point B and start a whole new wildfire.
00:01:01.100So the wind is a thing to keep the eyes on.
00:01:04.160These wind-fed wildfires have killed at least 16 people so far and swept through 40,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area,
00:01:11.880destroying entire communities and more than 12,000 structures, folks.
00:01:15.180Evacuation orders for the largest blaze, that's the Palisades Fire, have expanded as it sweeps east and threatens Brentwood, Encino, and Westwood.